Advocacy

1. Advocacy

CARI's primary aim is to provide therapy for children and young people who have been affected by child sexual abuse. CARI also provides information, support and concealing to non-abusing parents, carers and siblings as appropriate.

CARI'S secondary aims are:

A. To increase public and professional awareness of the existence of, and dynamics of, child sexual abuse.

C. To contribute to change in the responses made, and resources available to children and families affected by sexual abuse.

D. To undertake research about child sexual abuse.

2. Campaigning

While CARI focuses on service provision, it also strives to campaign on issues related to child sexual abuse. CARI issues press releases on related topics and contributes to radio and newspaper coverage and government legislation consultation processes. Some of the issues we campaigned on in 2011 are:

Children's Referendum

Call for an Independent Legal Representation for victims in child sexual abuse cases

The Murphy Report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Cloyne

An Increase in Inappropriate Sexualised Behaviour in Children

3. Ferns 4 National Steering Committee

CARI is also represented on the Ferns 4 National Steering Committee and is committed to the proposed development of sexual abuse services which incorporates all resources currently applied across sectors to sexual abuse services into a single, national service which provides standardised, best practice models of service available from a network of Centres. It is essential that the core components of sexual abuse services (Child Protection, Garda Investigation, Medical/Forensic Examination, Assessment, Therapy, Court Process) are integrated through a multiagency model. Children who have suffered sexual abuse must be provided with an accessible, child friendly and seamless service and this model can provide the foundations for an excellent service. However, additional resources will be required to make this happen (July 2012)

4. Networks

CARI rely on our involvement in networks to increase our advocacy in order to impact change on behalf of our clients. Networking creates invaluable ways of impacting our clients.

The Children's Rights Alliance is a coalition of over 90 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working to secure the rights and needs of children in Ireland.

The Wheel www.wheel.ie
The Wheel is the national support and representative body for community, voluntary and charitable organisations in Ireland.

Campaign for Childrenwww.campaignforchildren.ie
Children's Rights, Right Now. We want to build an Ireland in which children are heard and childhood is cherished.

National Organisation for the Treatment of Abusers (NOTA)
NOTA is a multi-disciplinary association whose aim is to support and promote work with sex offenders. This is an important child-protection campaign.

Telephone Helpline Association of Ireland www.helplines.org.uk
The THA is the umbrella organisation for not for profit helplines in the voluntary and public sectors across the UK and Ireland. We provide a range of training for anyone who uses the telephone or email to help, support or advice.

Commission for the Support of Victims of Crimewww.csvc.ie
Their core mandate is to improve the continuity and quality of services to victims of crime, by state agencies and non-governmental organisations throughout the country. It works to support the development of competent, caring and efficient services to victims of crime. They provide the bulk of the funding for the CARI Court Accompaniment and Support Service (CASS) and as such are providing a vital element in the support of young victims of crime.

Family Support Agency www.fsa.ie
The Family Support Agency was set up to provide support to families. The Agency's second Strategic Plan, covering 2010 to 2012, is grounded in a firm belief in the fundamental importance of families and family life for individuals, communities and society generally.

The main support services are provided in the following ways:

Providing information important to families, particularly in relation to parenting

Advising the Minister for Social and Family Affairs on family related matters

The Family Support Agency provides a multi-annual funding to CARI which is allocated to our Counselling services and by virtue of being confirmed for a 3 year period allows a strong degree of stability around these services. This allows CARI to plan more securely in the knowledge that they have funding agreed for that period of time rather than just for 12 months at a time which is crucial in our attempts to provide a sustainable long term commitment to the children and families we serve. CARI is a founding member of the group of counselling services, all funded by the Family Support Agency, called the Association for Agency based Counselling in Ireland (AACI).